Mercenaries of Deception
by EsmeraldaValiente
Summary: When the ninja fulfill their true potential, had they unknowingly caused the destruction of isolated lands? Four civilians set out to seek vengeance for what had happened to their homes. Note: I had this idea before I knew that Rebooted was coming out, so the story might not be tied in with that. I do plan to change that when it shows in the U.S. The story does have O.C.s.
1. Prologue

Lego Ninjago and its characters are owned by the Lego company, with the exception of the OCs. I am not in anyway profiting from this.

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Prologue

_The light of a candle flickers as Misako reads through the scrolls, trying to find evidence indicating what was to happen after the defeat of the Overlord. As she took another scroll in her hand, she noted that it was a bit heavier and its paper was thicker than the other scrolls that she had read through. She opened up the scroll, revealing ancient crudely made pictures and text done with haste. The images on this page depicted a map of Ninjago, just like many others that she had seen. Suddenly the paper curled inward and the map literally fell off the scroll, disclosing its true contents. The images and text on this real page seemed to have been painted on with the utmost care._

_When she decided to get a closer look, a strong gale had abruptly blown into the archive room. The flame of the candle next to her turned blue and jumped from the candle to the scroll that she had been holding. The flame immediately licked at the century old document and made it rapidly combust into ashes. Misako threw down the scroll and stomped madly on it to prevent the fire from spreading, then grabbed the crudely drawn map away from the dying embers. What just happened right now could've been coincidence, but it seemed like an omen. She gasped as she realized that she might've destroyed the only thing that would've hinted the fate of the ninja. Although she hadn't had the opportunity to skim through the entire revealed scroll, there was a phrase that stuck out in her mind, the first couple of sentences of the document._

"_Before Creation, there must always be Destruction. The powers that lie inside are paid with life."_


	2. Chapter One: Recovery

**Recovery**

***Cole***

"Wu! I found something in the archives!" Misako yells out toward Sensei Wu during the morning meal. It's been a couple of months since the Overlord's defeat and we had all been waiting for something, anything, to happen.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Is it another invasion, courtesy of the Overlord?" Kai asks.

"It's an attack, isn't it?" Jay guesses.

She shakes her head. "There was a prophecy scroll that I found. It contained a hidden page behind this map." She hands the map that she had been holding on to tightly.

"So where is it?" Sensei asks.

She sighs as she recounts the events in which the scroll had been ominously burned up.

"This does sounds like Overlord interference", says Zane. "Though, I'd assume that he would take longer to make a move."

Sensei nods and rubs his long beard. "Were you able to find anything on the matter?"

"That part of the scroll that burned up gave important information that I wasn't able to see most of it in time. I do recall that the hidden document said a phrase, 'Before Creation, there must be Destruction. The powers that lie inside are paid with life.'" She hands over the slightly blackened map to him. "This was really the only thing that I could salvage. However, I feel as though this map is just a proxy. I'm sorry."

He looks at the map from all angles, trying to put it in sunlight and later in front of a candle. "I doubt that it is. There must be some significance to this map." He lays it on the table and scrutinizes it further.

I walk toward the table and put my hand on the map, trying to find imprints on it. "I don't see anything, Sensei. Maybe she is right, this map is a fake…"

"Look! A couple of dots just appeared on the map!" yelled out Jay. I looked back at the map and saw a glowing black dot with a light aura exactly where we were located. Another small dot with a darker aura was located about 150 miles from where we were. The map now showed way more detail, showing up to date places and landmarks.

"The map must be activated by the touch of the Ninja. Quick, everyone put your hands upon the map."

One by one, the others touched the map, first Kai, then Zane, and Jay. Every time one of us touched the map, a dot representing us appeared on the map in our elemental color and another in the same color appeared. Finally, there were a total of 8 dots on the map, all four of our dots on a single spot on the map. The other four dots seemed to be very close to each other, with two dots the black and white dots moving around a village and the blue and red dots staying in one spot.

"It looks like they've already met."

_***Kohaku***_

_As I walked with the small blonde girl, I thought about how unfortunate it had been for her to have lost everything in an instant. I had seen her two months ago sitting shivering on the side of the road, abandoned in the frozen mountainous area, only wrapped in a small, ripped up shawl, almost turning blue from the extreme temperatures._

_It sometimes frightened me to have her look at me with those eyes and give such intelligent responses. At least when she was in form of a tiny human girl._

_We were walking all around for a part time gig to support all four of us, since all the money we received from selling most of our only possessions ran out. Did I mention that we had met up with a couple of jacks on the road about two months ago? This guy, Masanori, was helping out another boy with a really messed up leg. The younger boy introduced himself as Andrei, a name that I've never heard of. They were dressed strangely, one in some sort of red tunic, specifically for men, the other wearing a long dirty garment, meant for the cold. They talked with a different accent than I did._

_Then again, everything seemed strange to me. I never left the comfort of my hometown._

"_Ko, please slow down", gasped Chiyoko. I paused and saw her panting softly, grabbing her knees to keep from falling over._

_ Of course, the poor snake-dame needed my help walking. She did tell me before how she literally tripped over her own two feet her first few weeks of trying._

"_Hey, do you need my help? I can carry you." I offered. She looked up with grateful eyes and nodded, her long knotted hair bobbing everywhere. I let her on my back and walked at a slower pace._

"_So what kind of job do you want to get?" she asked._

"_Honestly, anything that doesn't need identification to get into", I replied. She pulls out a stolen newspaper from the back pocket of her pants and passes me a page full of job listings, a few of them circled in red. "Whoa! You researched jobs for me last night!"_

_She nodded and told me about how they were the only ones that didn't require any solid identity._

_"Well, they obviously won't be pennies from heaven, but it is something.!"_

"_Hey, remember what Overlord said. No slang usage on our trip to Ninjago City. It's the best way to keep our cover."_

_I nodded. "Yeah, I bet the guys are having a hard time trying to learn a whole new way of talking."_

"_True, those sleepless nights we spent last month studying modern slang and culture really helped out. I feel really bad for Alexei, though. He literally is learning a new language."_

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**I know, I know. How did these four people meet the Overlord? This is going by too fast!**

**Just hang in there, I don't want to make this entire story all about these people.**

**If you have anything different to comment, please do, no matter what it is.**


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